Andy Spade (L) and Kate Spade attend Build Series Presents Kate Spade and Andy Spade Discussing Their Latest Project Frances Valentine at Build Studio on April 28, 2017 in New York City. Kate Spade was found dead of an apparent suicide in 2018. (Photo by Monica Schipper/WireImage)

Photo: Monica Schipper/WireImage/WireImage

﻿﻿Andy Spade is a co-founder of Kate Spade New York

In 1993, Kate Spade and Andy Spade founded Kate Spade New York. The first shop opened in New York in 1996. The company now has more than 140 stores in the U.S. and more than 175 shops worldwide.

﻿The Spades sold the company in 2007

In order to focus on their daughter, the couple turned the company over to what is now Kate Spade & Company.

In 2015, the Spades started another accessories company called Frances Valentine

“I feel like I’m an entrepreneur,” Andy Spade told CNBC in a 2015 interview. “And to me, starting things is really fun.” Frances Valentine is named after Kate Spade’s grandfathers.

“There were a lot of things we made up and we thought that wasn’t feeling right,” Andy Spade told WWD in 2015. “A person’s name felt like this thing that was part of us, that connection, something real.”

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